Woodland walks boost hearts and minds

Lake County's health department and forest preserve district have teamed up to serve a dose of physical and mental health for residents by offering the "Rx for Health" walks where participants are accompanied by a naturalist and a doctor.

The program was started three years ago by pediatrician Dr. Gordon Wood of Lincolnshire, who, along with being the physician part of the walk, is also a naturalist and birder. The naturalist can be a forest preserve staff member, like Eileen Davis, or a volunteer.

"On parts of the walk, I'm a naturalist. and on others I'm a doctor, or both," said Wood, who works with the NorthShore University Health System and has offices in Vernon Hills.

"It's an important thing for everyone's good health," he said of the walks. "We're combining fitness with the strong health benefits of getting people outdoors.

"The more people are engaged in the outdoors, the healthier they will be," added Wood, who promotes the program through his office.

He can offer some basic health advice while out on the trail, "but I'll never replace anyone's physician. It's an informal atmosphere," said Wood, who tells participants that getting up and moving in the outdoors can help against a myriad of health problems, from diabetes to high blood pressure.

"Being in the outdoors is also very beneficial to mental health," he said, citing numerous studies that have found things like students who have outdoor recess in the woods do better academically. He remembers hearing University of Illinois professor Ming Kuo speak about her study as part of the Landscape and Human Health Laboratory, a program run by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences.

One way to understand this relationship between nature, health, and the immune system, according to Kuo, is that exposure to nature switches the body into "rest and digest" mode, which is the opposite of the "fight or flight" mode. When the body is in "fight or flight" mode, it shuts down everything that is immediately nonessential, including the immune system.

"The less green a person's surroundings, the higher their risk of morbidity and mortality – even when controlling for socioeconomic status and other possible confounding variables," Kuo wrote in a 2015 article in Frontiers in Psychology. "The range of specific health outcomes tied to nature is startling, including depression and anxiety disorder, diabetes mellitus, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), various infectious diseases, cancer, healing from surgery, obesity, birth outcomes, cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal complaints, migraines, respiratory disease, and others.

"These findings raise the possibility that such contact is a major health determinant, and that greening may constitute a powerful, inexpensive public health intervention," she added. Natural environments contain chemical and biological agents with known health implications. Many plants give off phytoncides — antimicrobial volatile organic compounds — which reduce blood pressure, alter autonomic activity, and boost immune functioning.

Kuo's report added that the air in forested and mountainous areas, and also near moving water, contains high concentrations of negative air ions, which reduce depression, among other effects. These environments also contain mycobacterium vaccae, a microorganism that appears to boost immune functioning.

Blood tests before and after walks in different environments reveal that levels of health-protective factors increase after forest walks but not those in urban areas. Didehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) increases after a forest walk, and DHEA has cardio protective, anti-obesity, and anti-diabetic properties. Kuo noted that the sights and sounds of nature also have important physiological impacts, with even window views and images of nature restoring attention and promoting healing from surgery.

For naturalist Davis, the good vibes of the outdoors have been part of her life for years, and she said the walks have been attracting a pretty diverse crowd, from seniors to young families.

"We did a big push for promoting the walks this year, and at our first walk at Hastings Lake Forest Preserve in Lindenhurst, we had 50 people. It was really quite significant, but it was the first nice weekend of April," she said. "It was nice to see such a big crowd."

Most of the questions for the naturalists range far and wide, from "what type of flower is that?" to "can I take my dog to this forest preserve or not?" she said. And the groups are always on the lookout for wildlife.

"That's the fun part of the job — you never know what you are going to see," she said, adding that on the Hastings Lake walk, they saw a loon on the water, but it didn't make its plaintive call.

"Last summer at Rollins Savanna, we saw a coyote," David said. "The good thing about a crowd is there are more eyes. A participant spotted a great horned owl in a tree on one walk."

The size of the groups have been increasing and organizers try to keep it simple, with no sign-ups required — just show up and walk.

"We get a lot of drop-ins, and of course it depends on the weather," Davis said.

Dr. Wood said some people are leery about going into the woods, but with the group setting and informality, they don't hesitate. "We also try to change things up so we go where someone might not normally go," he said.

Those 16 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. All walks start at 4 p.m. and are one to two miles in duration. The events are rain or shine, and no pets are allowed, with the exception of service animals.

The schedule for the "Rx for Health" walks is May 21 at Ryerson Woods in Riverwoods; June 18 at Rollins Savanna in Grayslake; July 16 at Middle Fork Savanna in Lake Forest; Aug. 13 at Lyons Woods in Waukegan; Sept. 10 at Fort Sheridan in Lake Forest; Sept. 24 at Pine Dunes in Antioch; and Oct. 15 at Captain Daniel Wright Woods in Mettawa.